


Mercy

by PoisonJack



Series: Seven Heavenly Virtues [5]
Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, General au, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-13
Updated: 2019-01-13
Packaged: 2019-09-19 20:11:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17008404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PoisonJack/pseuds/PoisonJack
Summary: Rhys wanted the people of Pandora to love Jack as much as he did.But with Rhys in Jack's arms, and empty port slowly bleeding down the younger man’s face, Jack wanted to raze the entire place to the ground, crush them all, and leave no one standing.OrRhys goes down planetside on a diplomatic mission against Jack's better judgment, and Jack has to go get him.Migrating some older works from tumblr :) This is part of my Seven Heavenly Virtues series, to accompany the Seven Deadly Sins series.





	Mercy

**Author's Note:**

> There’s so many opposites to the 7 deadly sins that I went with one of the general themes of each “virtue” on wikipedia lol.
> 
>  
> 
> _Patience- forgiveness, mercy, sufferance_

They hadn’t had him for long. 

No, no not long at all. Jack had gotten to Rhys before anything much had happened; just shortly after the younger man had contacted him about the situation. Then he’d been drugged and Jack had lost contact. 

They hadn’t had him for long.

What _was_ done, though, it was enough to boil his blood and grind them all into red dust. It was beyond forgivable.

He held Rhys in his arms, the younger man in sort of motionless shock. Or was that the tranquilizers? He didn’t know. What he did know was that Rhys’ port was gone, removed from where the the shiny metal normally occupied his skull.

It was a mistake. All a mistake. They’d thought he was a spy. They thought he bore ill will. Any one of his cybernetics were worth a small fortune, and the town– if one would even call it that- was dependent on what little it had. And what they did have was not very much. It was surprising the younger man was still in one piece.  


Rhys was an emissary. He’d convinced Jack to try diplomacy with this settlement instead of his usual tactic of coming in with guns blazing. That wasn’t how you gained trust if you wanted to foster loyalty and build things up, Rhys had argued. And the CEO was not allowed to come with. The townspeople would be too intimidated (or _awed_ , Jack had added) to actually be receptive to anything said. Fear wouldn’t get things done.

It was a perfect spot to properly build upon. Make it better, bring civilization and opportunity and prosperity one place at a time, and slap the Hyperion brand on and foster good will. Jack needed to seriously spruce up his imagine on Pandora and one tiny settlement at a time was a good start. Rhys wanted the people of Pandora to love Jack as much as he did.

Now with Rhys in his arms and empty port slowly bleeding down the younger man’s face, Jack wanted to raze the entire place to the ground, crush them all, and leave no one standing.

Rhys stopped him as Jack yelled and soldiers with guns held the small town at their mercy. The younger man tugged weakly at him, zoned out, but begging for clemency.

It wasn’t just bandits here. There were children. Old people. Would-be farmers trying to get something out of the harsh land. It was full of the people Jack was always claiming he wanted to “save”. Rhys was making him stick to his word of trying to better Pandora, not just be a mass murderer.

They didn’t put up much of a fight at all when Jack had come to town, and they weren’t a threat now. Most were skinny, tired-looking, non-militants, their isolation alone on the harsh planet what had kept them safe thus far. It wouldn’t be right to slaughter them all over desperation and misunderstanding.

“Jack…please… Leave them alone.”

“ _Rhysie_ -”

“They didn’t know…” the younger man told him softly, limp under Jack’s hold, cheek slightly numb where it rested on the older man’s shoulder. “They… There’s _kids_ , Jack. They just wanna feed their kids… they made a mistake.”

They hadn’t been able to figure out how to remove his arm yet, and the eye hadn’t been immediately apparent, especially when he was in and out of consciousness. The port though, that wasn’t a body part, and they’d managed to carefully take it out while he was heavily sedated. That didn’t speak of necessary malice. But they certainly weren’t cybernetics surgeons.  


“They would have torn you apart,” Jack growled. “Reason enough.”

“They could have killed me… that… That would’ve been easier. Please.” It was tiring to speak. He wanted to sleep. His head hurt and his brain was filled with static. 

“They deserve what’s coming to them,” Jack told him, urge for violence strong as he glared at the huddled, fearful gathering. 

“No… They just… They just need help.” Rhys’ fingers clenched in Jack’s shirt, the CEO’s cheek against his neck as Jack listened to him. “Heroes don’t murder, Jack. Please.”

Jack growled out angrily at the entire situation but ordered a withdrawal, carrying the younger man himself back to transport, his delicate port in one of Jack’s pockets.

On the ride back up to Helios, Rhys tucked close under his shoulder, Jack itched at at the fact that no blood had been spilled. It wasn’t the first time nor the last in which Jack introspected on how much the younger man had changed him. He was tempted to order a moonshot from orbit on the poor excuse of a derelict town. 

But Rhys would tiredly say his name coupled with “don’t” under his breath, the younger man still not completely resurfaced but adamant that Jack spare them. 

Rhys wanted to try again. This time give them proper warning and information and maybe take a loader with him for Jack’s own sanity. But he was certain he could bring the small town over to Jack, even with this rocky start. “Handsome Jack is a lot more merciful than people paint him,” Rhys would tell them. “He’s a real hero who helps the people of Pandora when they need it.”

Jack’s trigger finger continued to itch every time he looked at the man’s healing port. Even when Rhys put together new convoys of stuff to try again a few weeks later, it took everything the CEO had not to blast the site off the face of Pandora completely. 

Being a hero fucking sucked.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was heavily inspired by this piece of fanart [here](https://purge-that-urge-rhackathon.tumblr.com/post/143540132555/kyokosayuki-i-just-wanted-to-draw-them-hugging). Goddamn and _bless_ that's some good fuckin angst.
> 
> [my tumblr](http://purge-that-urge-rhackathon.tumblr.com/) | [my fic masterlist archive](http://purge-that-urge-rhackathon.tumblr.com/post/134979026515/poisonjack-ao3-fic-archive) | [my twitter](https://twitter.com/PurgeThatUrge) | [my pillowfort](https://www.pillowfort.io/PoisonJack)  
> (Just an FYI: you'll need to be logged in to tumblr for my blog to show up since it's marked explicit :D)
> 
> Please leave kudos and a comment if you enjoyed! ao3 FAQ: [Can I post comments anonymously, or if I don't have an Archive account? ](https://archiveofourown.org/faq/comments-and-kudos?language_id=en#anoncomment)


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